Hypocrites

I just can't stand intolerant people.


^ It was a joke. I'm tolerant of most people.  They know who they are.

Thoughts on Teaching

So after nine years of teaching art in elementary school, these are some things I have learned:

1. Be Kind
2. Be Clear
3. Be Flexible
4. We don't know everything
5. Prioritize people over paperwork
6. Slow down, breathe and live in the now
7. Less lip service, more active listening
8. Be Consistent
9. Maintain a sense of humor and don't ever lose your cool.

"Who are you people and where's my horse?"  George Carlin

Noise pollution

"Ask me about my vow of silence."  bumper sticker

I also like this quote from Six Feet Under:
"Future is just a f**king concept that we use to avoid being alive today."- Brenda

America's Addiction to Belief

The Humanist - a magazine of critical inquiry and social concern

Guilty as charged

Read between the lines, note what the man didn't say.  "I'm not a perfect man", that's code for admitting guilt to something wrong that you did. Beware of hypocrites.

Pastor, Minister, Reverend, Preacher or Bishop, whoever you are, it's OK to come out of the closet, man.  Gays are people, too. They can get married, have children, and even be a leader of a megachurch in a major US city with thousands of followers.  Even in the Bible belt South.  Imagine that.

Pledge

Pledge to America, Plague on America
(aka recycling of the old contract on America)

Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered

10 Songs

List 10 songs you can sing every word of.

1. Stairway to Heaven
2. My Girl
3. Blue Monday
4. My Way
5. Crazy
6. Always on my mind
7. Where is my mind?
8. American Pie
9. Hotel California
10. Mad World

Freedom

Pay your Taxes, because Freedom is not free! *
*Actually, it is absolutely free, no charge.

Fall Break

Clueless, Mindless, Fearless and Reckless 
Theme for this week's Fall Break w/ no school.
First day of Fall is 2 days from now, it's currently 95 degrees outside.  
What GLOBAL WARMING chu talkin' 'bout Willis?

Upcoming Races

• ATC Cartersville 10K, 8 AM, Saturday, October 2nd
• Haunted Hustle Cross Country 5K, Canton, 9 AM, October 23
• Run Around the Rock 5M/ 10M, Stone Mountain, 8 AM, November 6
• Gobble Jog 5K, Marietta Square, 8 AM, Thanksgiving November 25
• ATC Cross country 5K, 9 AM, Milton High School, December 4
• Resolution Run 5K, Kennesaw, Saturday, January 1, 2011

" When I turned 40, I had to choose a midlife crisis.  I decided running the Chicago Marathon would be less destructive than a sports car or a mistress."  Peter Sagal, host of NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!"

Tea Party of One

C'mon now, who hasn't dabbled into Witchcraft?

Old time religion

"Science flies men to the moon. Religion flies planes into buildings."  Author unknown 

More New Rules

1. There's no such thing as perfection.
2. Make room for negotiation.
3. Don't be too hard on yourself.
4. There is no shortcut in life.
5. You are what you think.

Signs in the Bible Belt

Saw this sign a block from a church on Milford Church Road in Cobb County, Georgia

"Kindness Over Genius" Spoken Word Video

KOG 3 from Kelly Tsai on Vimeo.

A Poem in honor of people who are Workaholics and Perfectionists

Freethought of the Day

Freethought of the Day

• Aren't Tea Parties for little girls?  Remember Alice in Wonderland?

Sunday AKA Lesson plans Day

• Imagine No Religion
• Sleep In On Sundays
• Beware of Dogma
• In Reason We Trust
• Heathen's Greetings
• The above and many more are from actual billboards going up across the country, and most surprisingly here in the South, around the metro Atlanta area.  There was even an article in yesterday's  Atlanta Journal-Constitution paper.  Will post a link soon when I find it.  Freedom From Religion Foundation  Protecting the constitutional principle of the separation of state and church
• GOP= Greed Over People

John Lennon - Imagine

Imagine there's no Heaven 
It's easy if you try 
No hell below us 
Above us only sky 
Imagine all the people 
Living for today 

Imagine there's no countries 
It isn't hard to do 
Nothing to kill or die for 
And no religion too 
Imagine all the people 
Living life in peace 

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us 
And the world will be as one 

Imagine no possessions 
I wonder if you can 
No need for greed or hunger 
A brotherhood of man 
Imagine all the people 
Sharing all the world 

You may say that I'm a dreamer 
But I'm not the only one 
I hope someday you'll join us 
And the world will live as one 

• Here's my one thought for this September 11:  

      Onwards and upwards.  Continue to live your life normally, or the terrorists would have won.

Burn, Baby, Burn!

Burn, Baby, Burn! | MichaelMoore.com

Got the Quran on the Kindle.  Burn this Mofo!  Burn the Bible and the Flag too while you're at it.  It's a free country.  Actually burning the flag is the proper way to dispose of an old flag, so what's the big friggin' deal?

Say Hello to my little Imaginary Friend

Proselytize

• convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another.
• advocate or promote (a belief or course of action).

Either way, I believe it was inappropriate, manipulative and offensive to a lot of people who work in the government or the public school systems.  Now I could care less what religion you belong to, I have friends and relatives who are Christians, Buddhists, Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, Wiccan, Pagan, atheists, and agnostics.  But what I do care is how you conduct yourself and do you force your faith down someone else's throat.  Does the concept of separation of church and state mean anything to anyone any more?  Or is it separation of church and brain?  And to make matter worse, it was disguised as "Character Education".  "He" is a friend indeed, an imaginary friend up in the sky who's watching and listening to  everything you do and say.  How creepy!  And if there's a god, he's not doing a very good job right now.  Please count me in as a non-believer, skeptic, agnostic, heathen or whatever.

To quote George Carlin, "the only good thing that ever came out of religion was the music."

Funny Times

The Education of a Vietnamese-American Writer

The Education of a Vietnamese-American Writer - New America Media
Andrew Lam

Madonna - Holiday (Re-Invention Tour Live)

HAPPY LABOR DAY &  RE-INVENT YOURSELF!

Labor Day weekend

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."   Goethe 

• Today I tried running again, everything was fine and dandy for the first ten minutes or so. I even warmed up by walking about 6 minutes on the sidewalks.  A mile and a half into the run, there came that tighten sored lower calf muscle.  Had to slow down and eventually walked it off the rest of the way back.  I felt out of shape and struggled to breathe after a mile just before the lower calf tighten up. This injury thing is annoying.  If anything good comes out of it, it would be that I'd have to adapt my running style to a more midfoot landing as opposed to mostly heel-landing.  I know I have to shorten my strides, relax the shoulders and upper body even more, bend the knees slightly.  Run lighter, land softer and take shorter strides. Shuffle shuffle shuffle.  

Mike Luckovich on drinking

9/1 cartoon: Mike Luckovich on drinking

Beware, Non-Judgment Day is Near!


A Procrastinator's Famous Last Words:

1. "We have plenty of time."
2. "Let me look into that."
3. "Sounds good."
4. "I thrive under pressure."
5. "Don't worry, that won't be a problem."
6. "Just leave it on my desk and I'll get to it."
7. "I've got a couple of errands to run, I'll be back soon."
8. "That's next on my list."
9. "Let's just see how things go."
10. "Relax, I'll get it done."

Words of wisdom. Word!

• Less is more.  Sometimes less is best.
• Get over yourself, sir.  That's an order!
• Politics, Religion, Magic, Reality, Drama, and Fiction.  Let's bring it all out on the table.  No sugarcoating. I can't stand pretentious and fake people.  Stand up, face reality and embrace it. Face it, do it, and move it on.
• "Restoring Honor to America", you mean the Republican party is finally gone?
• Here's my excuse for everything:  "It's against my religion."
• Speaking of religion, Anne Rice:

POSTED IN LIBERALAND BY ALAN • JULY 29, 2010, 8:02 PMET • 114 COMMENTS 

Novelist Anne Rice announced on her Facebook page that she is no longer a Christian.

As I said below, I quit being a Christian. I’m out. In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of …Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.

For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten …years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

Rice’s publisher confirmed that she did post the above.Raised as a Catholic, she had rejected the church early in her life, but renewed her faith in recent years and in 2008 released the memoir “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.”

Nina Simone - Ain't Got No...I've Got Life

U2's lost song NEGATIVLAND

"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For..."

This is a classic from Negativland.  Hysterical, catchy, memorable and wickedly funny.  Ponderous!
Discovered the group when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz in the 80's and then I used to play this on the San Diego State University radio station KCR-FM around 1990. That cassette tape literally wore out.  I was able to get away with it because we were on cable at the time.

I have a Nightmare....

• Oh, there is a god.  Finally, that Beck march/rally/miracle event whatever is over and I missed the whole dang thing.  According to Sister Sarah, you're NOT a "patriot" if weren't there at the rally in Washington DC today.  She seemed to be proud of the fact that she sent her son to Iraq to die for no reason. I just read that from a Huffington Post article.
• I'm still "Wandering in the darkness", and I love every minute of it.
• Forty years later and things are still the same in the state of Mississippi.  Or for most of the South for that matter. I don't know why I am still living here in Georgia.

(1963) Nina Simone 

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam
And I mean every word of it

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can't you see it
Can't you feel it
It's all in the air
I can't stand the pressure much longer...

Smile

They don't pay me enough to SMILE.

Bushism

"Rarely is the question asked:  Is our children learning?"
GWB, Florence, South Carolina, 1/11/2000

Steve McCurry's Blog

An amazing and important photographer/artist:
http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/

* Here's my short list of Worst drivers and the cars/SUVs they drive:
(from my 30 years of observation and driving experience all over the world.)

1. BMW (they'll either cut you off or brake for no apparent reason.)
2. Lexus (the rudest/ aggressive or the slowest/ incompetent)
3. Mercedes (Unpredictably erratic)

King of Cheese

• saw Avatar last night. First half hour looked promising, then the self-indulgent pretentiousness kicked in. Cheesy, overrated and mindless entertainment. Long winded and unnecessary 'splosions and shootings. If there was a redeeming value, it was to point out that the Military does 2 things well: blowing things up and killing people. James Cameron is the King of Cheese and takes himself way too seriously, the movie was humorless.  Here's a sample of the best dialogue:  "I see you....I see you...."   That's was actually amusing, unintended funny.  Now there was a reason why Titanic was on my list as one of the all-time worst films, I laughed at it inappropriately, too-when the ship was sinking at the end climaxing with all those creaking squeaky sound effects.
• I think I'm going to turn in 15 different lesson plans.  Just to confuse the authority and give 'em a taste of their own medicine. Not really, I wish I have time to do that.

"Offensive Ideas" - Campaign for Free Expression PSA #1

SUPPORT FREE SPEECH

Doctor Laura, What Up, My Ninja!
There, I said the "N" word.

Meet the EduPunks: Radical Self-educators

Meet the EduPunks: Radical Self-educators Start a Movement
Us art teachers already have been EduPunks for years before this movement. We've been doing it the way we want-reinventing lesson plans, adapting and adjusting formats to suit our own curriculum.  We don't need no stinking mumbo jumbo lingo.
"Everything I need to know, I learned in the art room."

*  Paperwork, meetings, inservice, duties, emails, flipcharts, copies, L#$%@ plans, more paperwork...... Guess I'll try some teaching in my spare time.

* The Secret to happiness is knowing what to ignore and when to stop.  Stop working, stop talking, stop eating, stop drinking, stop fighting, stop whining, stop doing what's hurting you and others around you.  Stop it!



Here are the entire lyrics for the song:
Don't rock & roll - no  *repeat*  
Now rock & roll now *repeat* 
Hey kids

Effing FaceBook

• The last thing we need-more paperwork.
• Note to the authority:  My actions outside of school are private.  End of story.  Didn't mama teach you to mind yo' own bizness?
• Some people need to practice what they preach.  Especially preachers.
• Research shows that most research are bogus.
• Post-It Notes= greatest invention ever, next to the mechanical pencil.
• "Those who can't teach, teach gym."  Woody Allen
• Gotta have a sense of humor if you teach elementary school, or you'll go crazy and drive every one else around you loco.
• I can see Republicans from my house. (Sorry, can't go a week without my Sarah-kiss-of-death-lady humor. She supported Karen Handel in my state of Georgia governor primary, guess who lost?)

Atlanta Track Club Grand Finale

Ran and finished a 5K this morning in Midtown Atlanta: the ATC Grand Finale which ended the regular Grand Prix racing series.  I ran a total of 9 races out of 12 over the last year. Earned a black ATC tech T-shirt for my effort.  Next season I'm shooting for running all the possible races. All 12 of them.
This 5K course in the Ansley Park/ Mall area of Midtown around the Botanical Garden area was tough.  I knew I wasn't going to get a PR since there were lots of hills and sharp turns.  Plus I haven't been training hard the last few weeks since school started and with the oppressive heat and humidity of the Atlanta summer. I finally learned to get up earlier and got there with enough time to warm up, use the porta-potty and walked to the starting area.
I surprised myself though at the end of the race when I found an extra gear and had some burst at the finish line.  As I started my sprint to pass a couple of people with about 20 yards to go, I saw on my left some guy coming up and about to outkick me, I just turned it on and barely edged him at the finish line. Found out later that the guy was 3 years younger than me and we both finished with the same time. There was the competitive side of me which I haven't seen in years.  My official time was 25:24 for the 3.2 miles, which turned out to be a 7:58 mile pace, my first time ever that I broke 8 minute in a race.  The first mile I took it easy on purpose, still ran it at about 8:00 pace. The second mile, always a tough one, made especially excruciating with the hills in this race. I think it was also another 8:10.  I was struggling to breathe up until the downhill part when we got back on Piedmont Rd and going down to the Ansley Mall parking lot. That last mile was messed up on my Garmin watch, but I believe it was about 7:30.  Saw Genie B., the owner of West Stride as she yelled out to "swing your arms!" so I tried to do just that.  But the shoulders were getting tight, my chest felt heavy, I took a couple of deep breaths and focused on relaxing. Find Center, Relax, Breathe... I am still learning to breathe with each race.
I renewed my membership with ATC tonight.  Tomorrow I'm planning on a long run at the Chattahoochee River.  Bring it on. To Humidity and Beyond.....

Happy Global Warmin'

     Misunderstood, Overreact, Sloppy, Choppy, Overworked, Overthink, Underappreciated, Overwhelmed, Underpaid, Overused, Abused, Too Fast, Too much, Too little, Time, Respect, Attention, Not enough, Space, Resources, Ego-stroking, uptight, lighten up, Overzealous, Out of control, Lack of common sense, People skills, freedom of creativity, no humor, no recess, and little flexibility.....
    Welcome to my life as a school teacher.  But, hey, I ain't whining. Some of my colleagues  take themselves way too seriously.  Chill out and Have a heart, man. Ten years, twenty years from now, nobody will give a crapola what your test scores were in the 2nd grade or what awards you won in 6th grade. People will mostly remember how you treat them. I bet no one will say this on their deathbed: "I wish I had worked harder last week!"

Ready or Not

        This year's theme for my Art Room :

FUN, FUNCTION, and FABULOUSNESS.

• Non-Essential Questions:  Paper or plastic?  How's it going?  Do what?